1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video apparatus such as a digital television receiver having a personal video recorder or PVR, and more particularly, to a method of reproducing a transport stream in a video apparatus and a video apparatus using the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A television receiver provided with a personal video recorder includes a storage medium such as a hard disc drive for recording (storing) and reproducing video signals including their associated audio components. The stored signals are digital video signals that are input to the television receiver and may be broadcast signals received from a broadcast station or other signals such as those supplied from a peripheral device connected to the television receiver. In any case, the input signals are encoded for storage in a transport stream format.
A transport stream received by a television receiver as above or by other video recording/reproducing apparatuses may be stored in and reproduced from the storage medium of a PVR while being received in real time according to a user selection of a time control function, which provides playback functions of pause, reverse play, fast or slow play, and the like for a real-time broadcast or other, similarly received, video stream. According to a contemporary digital television receiver, such a time control function enables a user to selectively execute the time control function, whereby the television receiver records (stores) a transport stream received in real time. The transport stream is stored in a PVR storage medium in an area specifically allocated for performing the time control function. By activating the time control function, a simple visual guide such as a progress bar is displayed via an on-screen display (OSD) function for user reference. The displayed progress bar represents a quantity of the stream that has been stored in the allocated area and enables a selective reproduction of the stored stream, beginning from any point of its progressing storage. That is, an OSD screen for the time control function includes a progress bar indicating a storage status of a received transport stream, and if a user designates a specific point on the progress bar, the television receiver begins reproducing the stored stream from a reproduction point corresponding to the designated point, while the same stream continues to be received and stored in real time.
In the contemporary digital television receiver as described above, however, the progress bar represents only the storage status of the transport stream. As such, a user has difficulty in identifying a specific point from which to perform an instance of reproduction as desired, so that a user is forced to make a guess as to the desired point of reproduction or to perform a cumbersome search process for locating the desired reproduction point. For example, to repeat a viewing of a particular portion of a stream being stored in real time while a time control function is activated or in the event that a user desires a subsequent reproduction of a particular portion of interest in a stored stream, say, from a point where a previous instance of viewing left off or from some other noteworthy point, the user is forced to belabor a tedious manipulation of the progress bar to attempt to select a precise point to begin an instance of reproduction.